Conception Should be Celebrated
For generations our society has been preoccupied with sex. People want access to sex without strings attached, sex that is without guilt, sex that is freeing. For many it doesn’t matter where the sex comes from, so long as it feels good. Everything is acceptable, until someone gets pregnant.
Even in marriage, sex has become a commodity to be traded for favors and loyalty. The really sad state of sex is that it has been totally disconnected from creation. Humanity no longer thinks of sex as bringing life into the world. In fact, when life is created through sex, many people panic.
Today is the Feast of the Conception by Anna of the Theotokos. Today is celebrated as something blessed and a promise fulfilled by God. It is not a day to panic. It is not a day to ‘consider the alternatives’ as many couples would do today. It is good news!
The Church only celebrates three such feasts. The other two are the conception of John the Baptist and the Conception of Christ. You can read more about the calendar and what it teaches us here. Today’s post is about why conception should be celebrated.
Human beings are created in the image of God according to His likeness. One thing that makes us like God is that we are creative. We not only create technologies. We create life. The conception of every human being is the result of two human beings working in cooperation with God to create human life. It is quite a blessing, which Saint Anna grieved because she was barren, but God rewarded her faith.
Brethren, Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in travail; for the children of the desolate one are many more than the children of her that is married.”
Galatians 4.22-27
For Saint Anna, as with the other barren women we hear about in Scripture, the inability to conceive a child was torture. It was considered punishment for a life of sin. Conception is to be celebrated, not feared. It is to be desired, not avoided. Today, couples go to great lengths to avoid conception, without having to ‘give up’ sex.
Before we can stop abortions, we must first rethink sex and conception for what they are. They are the result of two human beings working with God. Sure, conception is not always the result, but it should always be celebrated.
Let me make one comment about what happens with conception occurs but is not desired. Abortion must never be an option. Even in situations where parents are not married, abortion must be avoided at all costs, and the Church can (and must) do better to help in such situations.
Unwed parents should not be a reason for abortion, but a reason for compassion and love. While we should not ‘celebrate’ such situations, we do celebrate repentance and the refusal of abortion. There are a growing number of families that desire conception but are unable to conceive. Adoption is their only choice. The Church can (and should) step up and help mothers raise their children if adoption is not an option.
Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1st Corinthians 6.13
Life isn’t about sex. Life is about our relationship with God. We won’t be able to properly celebrate conception until we properly live our lives focused on God. Saint Anna focused on God. Abraham and Sarah focused on God. Zacharias and Elizabeth focused on God. Conception was celebrated in every one of their stories.
